Expert dog advice needed to blend a family

[hisdaughter]

My DH brought home a beautiful 7-8 month old pound puppy yesterday. We have an almost 3 yr old blackmouth curr who's been top dog. We are having trouble with both dogs raising the hair on the back of their necks and spine. They show their teeth and are fighting over what I consider the dumbest things. Here is where my expert dog owners can help..do you think time will blend this family or will there always be aggressive/territorial behaviors? Is there any way to encourage the blending as the newest dog is my 13 yr olds 1st dog and he already says he loves her. The dogs are similar size, the 3 yr old is a neutered male and the newest is a boxer/hound mix and is a fixed female. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks

 

[Brindlebtch]

It will be much much harder to integrate the new dog into the family since they have been allowed to fight and the fighting has been allowed to continue.

Read this http://leerburg.com/introducingdogs.htm or you can google "how to introduce a new dog to an old dog" and you should get a lot of helpful information.

Good luck and I hope it works out.

 

[teach1rusl]

I didn't read the article Brindle linked, so this may be in there. But I've always heard that leash walking the dogs in a neutral area (not at home or on home property) was a good way to get dogs use to one another with no territory to "protect" or be possessive of.

 

[Redyre Rotties]

What might seem "dumb" to you are important resources to the dogs. It is fairly unusual for opposite sex pairs to have serious issues. I would prevent as much strife as possible by using drag lines on both dogs, and controlling their interaction.

Separate dogs for feeding time. Make sure there are enough toys to go around, and don't let one dog annoy another dog, or try to take his/her toys. Don't allow demanding behaviors, such as hand butting for petting, or coming between you and the other dog if you are showing affection to one or the other.

You also need to define "fighting". Noise, posturing, snarling, hair up, are all indicators, but not FIGHTING. A fight means blood, injuries, and probably a trip for medical attention. Hair up does not always mean the dog wants to be aggressive, it could mean the dog is insecure, or very excited.

For me I would not approach this with harsh corrections. Rather I would work on controlling the situation quietly and calmly until the dogs settle in and accept each other.

Good luck.

 

[teach1rusl]

Yes - definitely different feeding areas away from each other. I feed one upstairs and one downstairs even... Since it's not all sunshine and rainbows, I would at least feed in separate rooms.

 

[hisdaughter]

Thanks for the great links and suggestions. It was teeth snarrling, bitting, etc..Very scary!

 

[Brindlebtch]

Yes, my dogs will put up hackles when they are excited or worried. Good point.

Did the dogs actually draw blood? Sometimes there can be a lot of noise and activity, but nobody is actually injured, and the humans are much more upset about the "fight" than the dogs.

 

[hunterjumper999]

brindle , are you an advocate of the 2 week shut down? I just asked because it may be beneficial to give the pound puppy a quiet place to reflect on the sounds and smells of the house and the resident dog and vice versa.

 

[4Hchickenproject]

Yay, I'm glad to "meet" someone else who peruses the pages of Leerburg! I've ordered DVDs from them, they're great!

I haven't checked out the link provided - yet - but without seeing it, I'll recommend you check out their website for suggestions.


Did check out the page, it's lengthy, but thorough. Very good information. Read it in its entirety, then go back and summarize the steps. Don't be concerned with purchasing a prong collar or anything of that caliber, you're not dealing with the same type of dogs they typically train (I would think). Just have a regular collar. DEFINITELY make use of crates and leashes.

 

[Brindlebtch]

Quote:
I'm a big fan of not rushing introductions and have done similar things to introduce dogs or just to acquaint myself to a new dog. I think the 2 week shutdown couldn't hurt. I know people who import schutzhund dogs will sometime do an extreme version of 2ws.